Article Counting the Costs: How Financial Data Silos Undermine B2B Success

In any B2B (business-to-business) company, data silos can become a deadly problem. One missed invoice or miskeyed contract detail can create big material errors down the road.

At launch, most companies make do with a highly-manual financial operations process built from several tools or just Excel. One or two heroic accountants are able to manage and keep the books accurate at close each month.

Success can come at a price! After 20-30 customers come on board, even the most skilled and diligent of controllers will run into trouble.

Managing the expanding complexity of each new contract signed, especially at renewal, can be tricky. Each one-time and recurring item must be billed and anticipated accurately.

The process can begin to break down if data silos like this emerge:

• Contracts stored in Google Docs with inconsistent permissions
• Customer data stored in a CRM
• Invoices stored on a hard drive at headquarters
• Financial metrics computed in an Excel spreadsheet

The key to eliminating data silos is first to identify them. Then, there are several ways to bring their contents into useful connection with the rest of your data so everyone benefits.

Stakeholders Suffer When Data Gets Siloed

Stakeholders in every corner of the company need accurate information. These leaders can’t be expected to collect it accurately or usefully from multiple, disconnected systems.

CEO/Founder: Founders need reliable, real-time metrics to gain a comprehensive understanding of their SaaS business's financial performance, growth potential, and customer satisfaction.

CFO: Chief Financial Officers need GAAP-accurate revenue recognition, deferred revenue, and reliable, real-time metrics to gain a comprehensive understanding of their SaaS business's financial performance, growth potential, and customer satisfaction.

Head of Sales: CSOs need reliable, real-time metrics to gain a comprehensive understanding of their SaaS business's sales performance, possible commission payouts, growth potential, and customer satisfaction.

Investors/VCs: Investors need to know that the GAAP-accurate revenue they are seeing is, in fact, GAAP-accurate. They rely on real-time MRR/ARR to understand the value of their investment and its potential.

There are many other important stakeholders to consider.

What is a Financial Data Silo?

Financial data sources or systems are meant to be shared with stakeholders. If they are not effectively integrated or shared across the organization, this quickly builds informational barriers.

A financial data silo happens when financial information is compartmentalized or isolated within specific departments, systems, or applications within a business organization.

Financial data silos can manifest in various ways. The most typical are separate databases for accounting, budgeting, invoicing, or financial analysis that do not communicate seamlessly with each other.

Lack of integration means big challenges. Data visibility, accuracy and collaboration suffer!

Key stakeholders within the organization may find it difficult to access a comprehensive and real-time view of financial information. This hinders their ability to make informed decisions.

Addressing financial data silos is crucial for improving the overall financial management and health of an organization.

Integrated financial systems like TrueRev, unified reporting mechanisms, and improved data-sharing practices can help break down these silos, providing a more holistic understanding of your company's financial landscape. This, in turn, promotes better decision-making, strategic planning, and operational efficiency.

Finding Data Silos in your B2B Company

Financial data silos pose significant challenges to efficiency, collaboration, and overall business success. That’s why powerful software tools have emerged to bring all the revenue information into one common “source of truth” that all stakeholders can access in real time.

Here are some common data silos to look for in your B2B company:

Departmental Silos: Problem: Different departments within the company, such as development, marketing, sales, and customer support, may maintain separate databases or systems, leading to isolated data. Result: Lack of cross-departmental visibility and collaboration, which can hinder innovation and slow down decision-making.

Legacy Systems: Problem: Older systems or outdated technology that are still in use may not integrate well with newer platforms or lack compatibility with modern data-sharing standards. Result: Difficulty in extracting and sharing relevant data across the organization, resulting in inefficiencies and potential errors.

Geographical Silos: Problem: Companies with multiple offices or development centers may face challenges in ensuring that teams in different locations have access to the same data. Result: Communication gaps, delayed project timelines, and difficulties in maintaining consistency in data across geographical locations.

Customer Data Silos: Problem: Customer information may be scattered across various systems, such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management), support ticketing, and billing. Result: Incomplete customer profiles, leading to challenges in providing personalized service and targeted marketing efforts.

Data Format Incompatibility: Problem: Data may be stored in different formats across systems, making it challenging to extract, transform, and load (ETL) data for analysis. Result: Delays and errors in data integration, hindering timely and accurate reporting.

Security and Compliance Silos: Problem: Security and compliance data may be managed separately from other business data, leading to a lack of holistic oversight. Result: Increased risk of compliance violations and security breaches due to insufficient coordination and monitoring.

Vendor Lock-in: Problem: Dependency on specific vendors for software tools and platforms may result in data being confined to proprietary formats or systems. Result: Limited flexibility and increased switching costs if the organization decides to move away from a particular vendor.

Data Silos Mean Errors in Financial SaaS Metrics

Every stakeholder in your company relies on the quality of your financial data.

Company investors are especially wary of financial operations that rely on manual entry and processing. Research has shown that manual revenue recognition inevitably introduces human error into your financials, no matter how expert or diligent the accountants and controllers are.

A rushed, manually-based monthly close is asking for trouble.

Over 75% of companies’ revenue statements have material errors.

With automated SaaS revenue recognition tools like TrueRev widely available at low cost to make this process easy and error-free, there is really no excuse to be relying on spreadsheets and siloed data.

When your data is scattered across several data silos, it can be difficult – if not impossible – to accurately compute these critical SaaS financial metrics:

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): The predictable and recurring revenue generated from subscription-based services on a monthly basis. MRR reflects the current stability and growth potential of a SaaS business.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR): Similar to MRR but expressed on an annual basis: it's the sum of all MRR for a year. ARR provides a longer-term perspective on revenue and is useful for annual planning and forecasting.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Total costs incurred to acquire a new customer, including marketing, sales, and other related expenses. CAC helps in evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of customer acquisition strategies.

Lifetime Value (LTV): The predicted total revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their entire relationship with the company. LTV compared to CAC helps assess the overall health of your customer acquisition and retention strategies.

Churn Rate: The percentage of customers or revenue lost over a specific period, monthly or annually. High churn rates will impact growth and fundraising capability, and can even lead to swift company failure.

Burn Rate: The rate at which a company is using up its cash reserves to cover operating expenses. Monitoring burn rate is crucial for financial sustainability and planning ahead for fundraising.

CAC Payback Period: The time it takes for a business to recoup its customer acquisition costs through the revenue generated from those customers. A shorter payback period indicates quicker returns on investment in acquiring new customers.

One Source of Truth is Always Best for B2B SaaS

Having a single, centralized "source of truth" for financial operations is critical for any B2B (business-to-business) software company.

The benefits are numerous:

Data Consistency: A single source of truth ensures consistency in financial data. When different departments or teams access the same set of data, it reduces the risk of discrepancies and errors that may arise from using outdated or conflicting information.

Accurate Decision-Making: A unified source of truth ensures that executives, managers, and other stakeholders base their decisions on the most current and reliable data available.

Operational Efficiency: Teams across the organization can access the information they need without navigating through various systems or sources, saving time and reducing the likelihood of mistakes associated with manual data entry or reconciliation.

Improved Collaboration: Departments such as finance, sales, marketing, and product development often need to collaborate on financial matters. All teams can work from the same data set, leading to a more cohesive and efficient workflow.

**Enhanced Reporting and Analysis: **A single source of truth simplifies the process of generating accurate financial reports and conducting meaningful analyses, supporting strategic planning and performance.

Regulatory Compliance: Many industries have stringent regulatory requirements regarding financial reporting and data security. A unified source of truth helps ensure that the company meets these compliance standards by providing a clear audit trail and accurate records.

Customer Trust and Transparency: For B2B software companies, especially those dealing with subscription-based models, customers often want transparency into financial transactions and billing. A centralized source of truth allows for clear communication and builds trust with customers, reducing the likelihood of disputes or misunderstandings.

**Scalability: **As a B2B software company grows, the complexity of financial operations increases. A single source of truth is scalable and can accommodate the growing volume and complexity of financial data, ensuring that the system remains robust and reliable.

**Risk Mitigation: **Relying on multiple, disparate sources for financial data increases the risk of errors, fraud, or data breaches. A centralized source of truth helps mitigate these risks by providing better control and visibility over financial data access and usage.

**Facilitation of Audits: **During audits, whether internal or external, having a single source of truth simplifies the process. Auditors can easily trace and verify financial transactions, improving the efficiency of the audit and reducing the likelihood of audit findings.

Reduce Costs and Errors by Eliminating Financial Data Silos

A single source of financial truth is foundational. Data silos simply will not support the rapidly scaling needs of a rapidly growing company.

The accuracy, efficiency, and trustworthiness of the financial operations in your B2B software company completely depends on it.

Automating the revenue recognition process is a key part of this work, because it lowers costs while also completely eliminating errors.

Accountants and controllers – and the IT people who support them – can now spend their time analyzing financial data versus keying it in.

Don't let financial data silos block your success.